Believe in the impossible

 

Reflection Sunday 20^th December 2020 4^th Sunday of Advent

The Gospel reading I’ve chosen to reflect on today (Luke 1: 26 – 38) played a significant part in my life. It was the Sunday before Christmas 2002. I was a local preacher leading a service at Cirencester Methodist church. And I remember distinctly preaching on the words “For nothing will be impossible with God”. I don’t recall more than that. But all I know is that after the service a man called Derek spoke to me and said he felt I should offer for ministry. This had been suggested in the past, but I’d shied away from it. But on this occasion, I found myself saying yes to God and the rest is history.

“For nothing will be impossible with God” Luke 1:37 NRSV

In an age where we can turn on our computers and find out all manner of things – or even use a library! – we like to know the background to people. For example when I see an actor on TV I vaguely recognise, I find myself looking them up there and then to see what they’ve been in.

But we can’t find out much about the for characters in the Bible. What little we know about Mary can be easily told. She lives in Nazareth, she’s “a virgin”, in other words a young woman who in fact maybe even a teenager; she’s engaged to be married to Joseph and she has a cousin called Elizabeth.

Why did God choose her to be the mother of Jesus Christ, God’s own son, the saviour of the world? We don’t know. Why, then? Why, there? Why, her? We don’t know. It makes no sense and yet

“nothing will be impossible with God”

In Alice in Wonderland there is a wonderful dialogue between the Queen of Hearts and Alice

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

That’s exactly where we are with this story. It makes no sense by our terms at all. But we are asked to believe an impossible thing because nothing will be impossible with God.

This is a story of impossibilities. Consider the impossibilities Mary faced in this story: She is a virgin and pregnant—she is having a child while she is a virgin. Impossible! No way! Won't happen! Joseph has to follow through on the marriage after he discovers Mary is pregnant. Impossible! Mary must avoid being stoned to death when the neighbours hear the news. Impossible!

Consider the impossibility Elizabeth faced. She was well past childbearing age, and yet God says she is going to conceive and bear a child. This impossible news left old Zechariah speechless. Impossible! No way! Won't happen!

“nothing will be impossible with God”

This is a story of biblical impossibilities. But what are the impossibilities in our world? What would you label "impossible" in your life? Peace in our world. Impossible! No way! Won't happen! True Christ like values coming to our nation? Impossible! Our church reaching our surrounding community and making our world different? Impossible! Restoring relationships, healing past hurts in our lives? A relative or friend entering a relationship with Christ? Breaking an addiction and overcoming past hurts and disappointments? Impossible!

We find ourselves with the same troubled mind as Mary, wondering over the impossible (v. 29). We even ask the same question Mary asked, "How will this be?" (v. 34). To us it seems impossible! No way! Won't happen! The real question for people today is "How can the impossible become possible?"

The impossible can be possible through faith. Through putting aside our scepticism, our doubt, our uncertainty and giving in to God the impossible can be made possible. By allowing God to act through us the impossible will be possible. Just going back to the example of my calling for a moment. I realised once I’d accepted God’s call that he had been calling me for several years. I found excuses and kept the barriers down. But once I’d allowed God to act within me the impossibility was overcome, in all manner of ways.

The contemporary hymn writer Graham Kendrick puts it this way in one of his hymns:

God is at work in us
His purpose to perform
Building a kingdom
Of power not of words
Where things impossible
By faith shall be made possible
Let's give the glory
To Him now.

(Rejoice! Reproduced under CCLI number 150863)

British missionary William Carey once said "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God" I’ve no idea whether Mary expected great things of God. But once she realised what God was asking her to do, she accepted her calling

³⁸ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. Luke 1:38 NRSV

How often do we say, “let it be with me according to your word.”? Do we expect great things from God? Do we believe that in God the impossible will be made possible? Imagine what will be possible if we do!

Credit: The picture used at the start of this blog is "The Annunciation" by Afro American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner(1859 - 1937) The pictures is housed in the Philadelphia Museum. 

https://philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/104384.html

Where are the prophets?

 

Reflection Sunday 13^th December 2020 Third Sunday of Advent

 

Two of the Bible readings suggested for today concern prophets. The prophet Isaiah and, John the Baptist who was also a prophet. Both passages of scripture have a familiarity to them.

The Isaiah passage (Isaiah 61: 1 – 4, 8 – 11) was drawn upon by Jesus in Luke 4: 14 – 30.

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor. Luke 4:18

There Jesus sets out for the people of Nazareth (who were amazed at how well he spoke given he was Joseph’s son) what his ministry would be concerned with. (If you look at the passage in Luke, you’ll see that Jesus’ message was not well received.)

As in so much of his prophesy, Isaiah foretells not only Jesus’ coming but also what his ministry will be like and would be concerned with.

Then of course we have John the Baptist. He was identified as a prophet by the people who came to hear him preach and his message is very prophetic - “Prepare the way!” But when he was asked if he was Elijah or the Prophet (John 1:21) he denied it. (To the Jewish people “the Prophet” and Elijah were both thought to come before the arrival of the messiah. And in that sense John could be thought of as “the Prophet” – though most Jewish people thought of “the Prophet” as being Moses like.)

As we know, most Jewish people did not make the connection between Isaiah’s great prophesy, and what John the Baptist was proclaiming, and the coming of Christ as Messiah. At best, Jesus himself might have been regarded as a prophet by much of the Jewish community.

We move forward from Jesus’ ministry to the church in Thessalonica. And Paul’s letter to the young church there (written scholars think around 55 AD / CE, 20 years or so after Jesus’ death and resurrection.)

Paul is addressing an issue that has perplexed the Church ever since: how do we understand the fact that Jesus has not returned in glory as we had been led to expect? How do we hold on for that hope?

In 1 Thess 5: 1 – 11 Paul encourages the Christians to live “wakefully”, alert for the salvation that may come about at anytime. (A theme I’ve commented on over the last couple of weeks.)  But in 1 Thess 5: 11 – 24 Paul shows them how they are to live in the meantime – the time between Christ’s first and second advents – the time in which we live. Verses 12 – 13 suggest they can have peace with one another by respecting their leaders. Verse 14 seems to be instructions to church leaders. And in verse 15 we have instructions for congregations.

But it is verses 19 - 21 that caught my attention.

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; 1 Thess 5: 16 – 24

We know from 1 Corinthians 14 that Paul was concerned with the use of prophecy within worship and the church. In the early church Prophets were Christian leaders who declared aloud in worship, words they claimed to have received from God. Paul’s warning to the church in Thessalonica is to respect the prophecy but also to test them.

In some branches of the Church today, perhaps Pentecostal type churches, prophesy and “bringing a word” from God is still very much a thing. In our tradition it is not something we encounter very often. Does that mean we do not have prophets in the Methodist church? In fact, we might say “where are the Prophets?” anywhere?

There is a danger in thinking of Prophets as those  being some who predict the future – just as Isaiah and John the Baptist foretold the coming of Christ.

But Biblically and historically, true prophets spoke out about injustice and exploitation. They spoke on God's behalf when his people went astray and forgot the poor. They spoke truth to power, not condemnation to the downtrodden and marginalized. (Have a look at prophets such as Amos and Micah for example.)

Some of you may know the song by Simon and Garfunkel from the 1960s “The Sound of silence”. It contains these words:

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sound of silence

To me these words in a secular song are a reminder that if we look for them, if we listen out for them, we will find prophets in the most unlikely of places. I’ve no idea whether the Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford is a Christian, but his high profile enabled him to give a voice to children in need of free school meals. His speaking out against injustice was prophetic. Yes, MPs, church leaders and so on had been doing the same. But somehow, Marcus Rashford’s voice broke through.

(Incidentally, going back to that song, “whispered in the sound of silence” is a reminder to us that God spoke to Elijah the prophet not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in the still small voice.)

Of course, as Paul reminds us, we need to be wary of prophets. We need to test what they say. It seems to me that if what a “prophet” says accords with Christ’s teachings, for example in Luke 4 (and Isaiah 61) then they could well be authentic, and we should take note of what they are saying.

Who are the prophets today? Are we listening to them?

Praise and honour to you living God for John the Baptist, and for all those voices crying in the wilderness who prepare the way. May we listen when a prophet speaks your word, and obey.

 

A New Zealand Prayer Book © Anglican Church of New Zealand Harper Collins 1989

 

Revd David P. Gray 7^th December 2020

Use the waiting time wisely

 

Reflection Sunday 6^th December 2020 Advent 2

 

Last Sunday, I wrote about how Advent is a time of waiting, and waiting in hopefulness. This Sunday I want to explore the idea of waiting a bit further. And my Reflection mainly focuses on the reading from 2 Peter 3: 8 - 15a

Lew Bowman in the Feasting of the Word commentary for this passage notes that a frequent question of believers is “What is God doing in the world?” and a supplementary question to this is “What are the roles of human beings in this work?” They are questions that test faith. And let’s be honest, how many of us from time to time have said something along the lines of “Why doesn’t God do something about this?” which suggests we may feel (even if only in that moment) that God isn’t doing anything.

We may think this way of thinking is modern, confined to what is sometimes referred to as “a post Christian era”. But we’d be wrong, for Christians have wrestled with this for hundreds of years. In fact, Christians have been thinking this way since a generation or so after Christ’s death and resurrection.

The early church of 2 Peter was wrestling with this as they endured the scoffers who taunted them with the failure of the second coming. (2 Peter 3: 3 – 4) It is worth noting that 2 Peter was probably written in Peter’s name a generation or two after this death. It was written by a theological follower of the great apostle, using the apostle’s name to give authority to the ideas in the letter. Bearing this in mind, the subject of the letter makes sense.

The earliest followers of Christ, those who either had known him or had been in contact with the apostles, had heard Jesus’ teachings that he would come again. From their (relative) first hand experience they believed the second coming would be imminent. But by the time of the church in 2 Peter, and even more so now, this urgency, and this belief that the return is imminent, has petered out!

The author of the letter explains that if we have this sense that Christ’s return won’t happen, then we are missing the point. We are counting time in human terms whereas God measures time differently.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

The writer explains that what matters is not the way God counts but rather the way God speaks. God’s word created the cosmos; God’s word speaking through the prophets pointed ahead to the present messy days when scoffers refuse to believe God’s promises. And God’s word preserves the earth until the earth is consumed in grace and judgment – grace and judgment that will also come by God’s Word (see John 1).

There is a reason why God has delayed his final judgment. And that reason is to allow time for repentance. Therefore, what to us looks like God’s tardiness in sending his Son into the world once again is actually an act of mercy on God’s part.

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 9

And let me emphasise part of that verse; God does not want anyone to perish in the wrath that will come when Christ comes again, but God wants everyone to come to repentance. In verse 10 the writer lays out his understanding of what will happen when the day of the Lord arrives. And it doesn’t sound good! Hence why God in his love for people, even his most wayward children, wants repentance.

Of course, talk of repentance in Advent brings us to John the Baptist. The voice calling in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1: 1 – 8)

For a certain type of minister this would be a call to go out on to the streets of their local town, calling people to repent and then baptising them in the local river. And certainly, we know we are living in a world where we are surrounded by those who should repent and seek forgiveness for their sins before it is too late to do so.

But I feel first and foremost that as a minister I need to focus on the needs of those I have “pastoral charge” of. To ensure all is well with my own people before heading off to the River Avon in the centre of Chippenham and baptising those stood in the queue outside Wilco’s!

In fact this is important for the writer of 2 Peter reminds those of us who have already become followers of Christ, that as we watch and wait for his coming again, as we watch and wait for the new heaven and the new earth, we are to

make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 2 Peter 3:14

In other words, we are to look at the planks in our own eyes before looking at the specks in others’ eyes. (see Matthew 7:5)

The great Christian writer Henri Nouwen once said,

 "If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to another. Our lives get stuffed with newspaper items, television stories, and gossip. Then our minds lose the discipline of discerning between what leads us closer to God and what doesn't, and our hearts lose their spiritual sensitivity." 

It's the hard work of acknowledging our own sin and repenting that leads us to God.

Use this time of Advent to look at your own life. Are there things that are keeping you from being closer to God? Are there things that interrupt your waiting?  If so offer them to God, seek his forgiveness and then know that in his great love for us he forgives us. Thanks be to God. Amen

Keep looking forward to the light

This is a talk written for an online Advent Service on Sunday 29th November 2020

A couple of weeks ago I was sent the Order of Service / script for this evening. And I noticed one song was called “Keep Hauling”. We heard it sung earlier. I wasn’t familiar with it so Googled it. And I found out it was written by Andrew Cadie and has been performed by the folk group Show of Hands, and by Fisherman’s Friends.

On the face of it, it seems an odd choice for an Advent service. But then there’s the verse I read out before the choir sang

When your guiding star's in cloudy skies
Keep hauling, keep hauling
You'll find your way to the bright sunrise
Keep hauling, boys

You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkNwhbyiA4Y

The song reminded me of a song I first heard in 2009. Just before Methodist ministers are ordained we go on retreat -  a week of preparation for entering ministry. In one session we were played a song sung by the American Gospel Singer Mahalia Jackson.  It’s a song that can trace its roots back to African American Spirituals and the song is variously called "Gospel Plow" , "Hold On" and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow".

The reason it was played to us was to remind us that when we are called to Jesus’ service, we are not to look back. We are to look forward. Just as someone ploughing a field needs to look forward.

Hold on Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Heard the voice of Jesus say
Come unto me, I am the way.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.
When my way gets dark as night,
I know the lord will be my light,
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

“Keep your hand on the plow” draws on a verse in Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus reminds us that if we are to follow him we need to keep our eyes on him looking forward not back:

⁶² ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ Luke 9: 62

Keep hauling and Keep your hand to the plow have the same idea in my view. Keep going. Keep looking forward. It’s tough but all will be well.

This year has been hard for us all in so many ways. And I don’t know about you, these last few weeks have been the hardest. A combination of wet dull days and the nights drawing in have made it so hard. I get quite grumpy about people putting Christmas decorations up early. But this year I do understand why

But for me it is important to make sure Advent is marked. Because Advent tells us so much about our faith. Advent is the season for “keep hauling” and “keep your hand to the plow”. Advent is the time when things somehow can seem hard and hopeless. But it is the time when we look forward in anticipation to the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World.

When my way gets dark as night,
I know the lord will be my light,
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

Earlier we a reading from that great passage of scripture from Isaiah 9

“The people walking in darkness of seen a great light”.

The foretelling of Christ 700 year saw before his birth. The people of Israel, witnessing the decline of their kingdom, sensing the power of the Babylonians who would soon conquer the land and destroy Jerusalem, those people of Israel walked in darkness. But Isaiah gave them the prophesy of hope.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

It would be 700 years or so before the child was born. Many generations of Jewish people waited and wondered if the event would happen. And it did.

For us, the child has been born. For us the son has been given. We have that hope already.

We may feel that we are living in a dark time, but we can see the light to guide us. To lead us. To give us hope. We have the hope that Jesus the light of the world brings. Yes, we still have darkness around us. Yes, things will remain hard for us for some time. But keep your eyes on the light.

When love just seems so far away
Keep haulin', keep haulin'
The tide will flood your heart someday
Keep haulin', boys

When your guidin' star's in cloudy skies
Keep haulin', keep haulin'
You'll find your way to the bright sunrise
Keep haulin', boys

Keep hauling! Keep your hand to the plough. Keep you eyes on the light of the world. 

“Start with an earthquake, then build to a climax”

 

Reflection Sunday 29^th November 2020

 

Apparently, the famous film director Cecil B. De Mille was once asked what made a great epic film. His response was “Start with an earthquake, then build to a climax”. This week’s Gospel passage in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 13: 24 - 37) has that flavour.

Normally each year as a minister I can guarantee there will be a debate, sometimes with a small “d” sometimes a big “D”, about Christmas. When should we have the Carol Service? When should we put up the Christmas tree? And so on. And each year I have to point out we have four weeks of Advent first and it’s an important time. Normally I have to accept that come the third Sunday of Advent (or the fourth Sunday if it’s a week before Christmas) we’re ready to start Christmas.

This year of course will be different. At the time of writing we don’t know what we will be allowed to do in terms of Church over the next few weeks. Even if we can worship together in church, we certainly won’t be allowed to have packed out carol services.

This year I know a lot of people are really keen for Christmas to come. People are putting up their Christmas decorations early to cheer themselves up. People are diving straight into Christmas now. And I dare say there will be some Christian people doing that too. I do understand why.

But this part of Mark’s gospel reminds us to begin our anticipation of the birth of Jesus, by waiting for his coming again. This might seem odd but it’s right because we are being placed with those who awaited the birth of the Messiah. They didn’t know when the Messiah would be born. And we are now firmly alongside those who, just after the time of Jesus, were awaiting his second coming.

Of course, our experience of waiting for the coming of God’s promised one at Christmas is quite different from the experience of those who awaited the Messiah. After all, we know what we’re waiting for. We know when the day will arrive when we will celebrate his birth. It is fixed on our calendars. We will count down the days with Advent calendars and Advent candles.

But those living before Jesus’ birth did not know the hour or the day of his arrival, so the faithful lived in a continual state of watchfulness. By anticipating the return of the Son of Man here at the beginning of Advent, we are, or certainly should be, waiting in the same level of anticipation for Christ to come again.

It is hard to do. It requires an expectant watchfulness because we never know when He will appear. This expectant watchfulness requires us to be actively waiting.  What do I mean?

Some waiting is passive. If we’re waiting for a bus or a train say, we are passive in our waiting. It will come at some point - and if we’re fortunate on time! But we just don’t have to do anything. We are passive.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to London to watch the Lord’s Mayor’s Parade. It is well worth doing sometime. We’ve been several times. We’ve got “our” spot, just behind St Paul’s Cathedral. And it is active waiting. There is a sense of excitement that builds and builds as the parade comes closer. And you know it is coming closer because the sound of the parade comes through the streets until suddenly it is there! “Hark! we hear a distant music, and it comes with fuller swell;”

When you’re actively waiting you daren’t leave your spot. You daren’t be doing something else in case you miss the moment. Because you know the event will happen at some point but don’t know when exactly.

It is this that Jesus has in mind when he says to his followers

³³ Be on guard! Be alert^[e]! You do not know when that time will come. Mark 13:33

Or as The Message version puts it

So, keep a sharp lookout, for you don’t know the timetable. 

Jesus clearly does not intend for us to predict when he will return. Rather he is urging us to live our lives as if his return is just around the corner. As if we are standing on our spot behind St Pauls waiting for the Lord Mayor’s Show to arrive! There’s no time to nod off in a waiting room. As Martin Copenhaver puts it “We are to be more like a waiter who is continually busy in serving others and so has no time to sit down and count the tips”

Now, I should say that we must get the balance right. There can be a danger in being so “busy” with church stuff that we forget what our true purpose is which I would say is loving God and loving our neighbour. Some of our busyness can be those things of course, but it is my fervent hope, that once we are through this Covid 19 thing, (and we will get through it) then the Church, the Methodist Church, “our” Church, will take stock. I hope that this time of “being laid aside” (as we say in our Covenant Service) will allow us all to consider what we should really be doing as we wait for Christ.

I’ve mentioned before I’m sure a T shirt I saw years ago with a slogan “Look busy, Jesus is coming”. And that is the danger - we look busy, we are busy, but often we are not being busy in our time of waiting in the ways Christ wants.

Of course, what we must not forget is that Christ has already arrived. And therefore, in our waiting, we need to be attuned to where we see evidence of that.

And this brings us to one of the most important paradoxes in the Gospels. (A paradox being “a self-contradictory statement” – Chambers Dictionary) We have the “already / but not yet” quality of Christ. Already Jesus has come into the world and established how we are drawn into God’s family. But not yet do we live in complete communion with God. Already we see evidence of the kingdom of God in our world and in our own lives, but not yet is it fully established.

It is only with Christ’s coming again that the “not yet” parts be resolved.

In this portion of Mark’s gospel Jesus addresses those who have to live in the time between “already” and “not yet”. By keeping alert and awake, by living our lives in the way Christ who has already come would want us to live, not only will we be prepared to live in the promised realm of God when it comes, but we may experience even now some of what life is like in that realm.

One clergy family decided to let their five-year-old son record the message for their home answering machine. The rehearsals went smoothly: "Mummy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as possible." Then came the test. The father pressed the record button and their son said sweetly, "Mummy and Daddy can't come to the phone right now. If you'll leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, they'll get back to you as soon as Jesus comes."

Sorting out the Fat Sheep

 

Reflection 22^nd November 2020

 

In Hebrew Scripture (what we call the Old Testament for the most part) God (“Yahweh”) is often depicted as the good shepherd who provides for the flock’s every need. It is an image that still resonates for us thousands of years later – even though most of us have never had direct contact with shepherds or sheep. After all, if I asked you which is your favourite Psalm, I’m sure many of you would say Psalm 23 which affirms that even as God’s sheep “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” they need not fear for God is with them as protector and guide.

For many Christians, Jesus assumes the role of the Good Shepherd. As Gail O’Day puts it in her commentary on John’s Gospel

“the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd has a perennial hold on Christian imagination. Some of the most popular pictures of Jesus are those that depict him a shepherd, leading a flock of sheep”.

In ancient Israel, kings were expected to “tend” their subjects justly, especially those who were most vulnerable to abuse: widows, orphans, the poor, the infirm, and displaced. Israel’s past shepherds (kings) neglected such responsibilities as Ezekiel states:

⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed those who are ill or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. Ezekiel 34:4

Ezekiel reminds the people that God, the Sovereign Lord says:

¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

Ezekiel then goes on to say that God will deal with “the fat sheep”, those that bully the weak sheep out of the way and prosper at the expense of the weak. The fat sheep will be subject to God’s justice. However, perhaps what is surprising is the way God will dole out his justice. For God will dole out his justice as a good parent imposes discipline. And how does a good parent impose justice? Not so much by punishment but by teaching what is right and wrong.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to think of Ezekiel as being hell fire and brimstone. I’d expect any teaching on justice by Ezekiel to be harsh. We imagine Ezekiel would say “Vengeance is mine says the Lord”. (Hebrews 10:30) It might be, but not yet, is what Ezekiel is saying.

God means business. God will not let injustice go unanswered. But Ezekiel shows us that God has a way of dealing with injustice that is very different from how we would deal with it. And what is that?

Ezekiel says:

¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

My emphasis on those words. God will destroy the unjust. He will transform them by feeding them justice.

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

Then God speaks to the “fat sheep” (the fat cats maybe??) directly:

 ²¹ Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²² I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

Isn’t it a bit odd that God will sit down with the unjust “fat sheep” and “feed them justice”? Shouldn’t those who have been treated unjustly be fed? Aren’t God’s priorities wrong?

What are we to make of this?

God wants the whole flock to come to him. He wants all to be fed by his love. His grace. He wants all to know that love – even the fat sheep. That is why God sent his son our Saviour Jesus Christ into the world to call all to himself.

²³ I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

That is a bitter pill for us to swallow. In our eyes it’s not fair that God is going to sit down with the fat sheep, those who act unjustly, those who exploit, and feed them his justice.

In our eyes we’d prefer the fat sheep to be like the goats in the Parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25: 31 – 46). We’d like them to be punished. We want the fat sheep, the goats, the sinners, to go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life.’ Matthew 25:46

But the passage in Ezekiel says that God offers the disobedient sheep, the fat sheep, the opportunity to be transformed in order to be saved. That is the purpose of Christ coming into the world. As Jesus says in Luke 5:32

³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Perhaps a meal of God’s justice will satisfy the hunger the fat sheep never knew they had? Redemption is still possible even for those who pushed with flank and shoulder and butted at all the weak animals. That is what is so amazing about God’s grace. That is what is so hard for us to accept looking through our eyes.

God wants above anything to have all come into his kingdom – provided they have sought forgiveness.

That is not to say we as Christ’s followers should ignore injustice. We must not. We must work to right injustice. We must speak out against it. We must remind the fat sheep of the values of the Kingdom of Heaven. But ultimately it is for God to deal with them.

A mother of eight children was once asked if she had any favourites. "Favourites?" she replied. "Yes, I have favourites. I love the one who is sick until he is well again. I love the one who is in trouble until he is safe again. And I love the one who is farthest away until he comes home." That is what God is like. God is a Divine Parent whose love never stops, a Parent whose love will never give up. You may stop loving God, but God will never stop loving you. You may run away from God, but you will soon find that your legs are too short. You can't get away from God. And that is not a threat, but a promise! God is out on every road where people, like sheep, get themselves lost, earnestly and tenderly seeking them and calling them back home.

Don't be afraid. Be a good and faithful servant

 

Reflection Sunday 15^th November 2020

 

One of the challenges for any preacher when faced with the well-known parables of Jesus is trying to find something fresh to say. Or, even if not fresh, at least not overly familiar.

I’m sure many of us know the Parable of the Talents. The rich man who gave his three servants money (“talents” were money in Jesus’ day) and told them to use the talents. There are several ways to think about this parable.

Traditionally sermons on this parable encourage followers of Jesus to discover and use their gifts and abilities for God’s glory.

Sometimes a sermon on this parable can include thoughts of God’s generosity. Reminding us how God is like the wealthy man in giving to us with great generosity, not least the most precious gift of his son.

A third way is in thinking of the greatest treasure we’ve been given to steward by God. And that I would suggest is the responsibility for being custodians of the Good News of Jesus Christ and of sharing that treasure with others.

(There you are. If during lockdown you’ve felt called to be a local preacher, I’ve just given you three ideas for sermons!)

But I’d like us to think about the parable in a fourth way. And that is to think of the parable as showing us that God does not want us to be ruled by fear.

The parable as we know tells us about three servants or slaves. When the master gives them these vast sums of money two of the three aren’t concerned or frightened at all. They take their talents and make a profit for their master.

Let’s just stop and think about that for a moment. One talent was worth 15 times a year’s salary of a day labourer. Therefore, one servant had 5 x 15 times a salary, another 2 x 15 a salary and the third 1 x 15. I don’t know about you, if I was given responsibility for such sums of money, I’d be frightened. What if I physically lose it? What if the investment choice I make goes wrong? Won’t my Master be angry if I do the wrong thing?

Clearly the Master trusts his servants entirely. He doesn’t tell them what to do with the money. And the first two seem to know their Master well enough that they make their own decisions and as we know get a good return for him. And the Master is pleased with them both:

 ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:21 and 23

But as we know the third servant does not fare so well. He buries the money and the Master punishes the third servant for his inactivity.

You wicked, lazy servant! So, you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Matthew 25: 26 and

³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25:30

Why did the servant react in this way? And why is the servant treated in this way?

I feel we have to assume that the third servant sat back and did nothing not so much as out of laziness as out of being afraid to do the wrong thing. Therefore, he sits back and does nothing rather than get it wrong.

For me, Jesus wants his good and faithful servants to be active. And by that I don’t mean in “doing” lots of things. Often we can busy in the wrong ways! We can be active through showing Christ’s love to those we meet. We can be active by praying for others. We are not expected to be faithful servants by sitting back and letting it happen around us. We are not just to sit in the pew on Sunday, or in our armchairs in front of Songs of Praise! We are not to be apathetic.

Of course, I can’t help wondering what would have happened if the first two servants had lost their Master money. Would he have been angry? If this was a story about human relationships he might have been. But this story is a parable of how things are with Jesus. And I feel he forgives us those times when we get it wrong when we have been trying to do the right thing for him. We only have to see the stories of the disciples. On many occasions they get things wrong. But Jesus is not so much angry as exasperated with them. But he understands that they were trying to be good and faithful servants.

That is all Jesus wants from us. To be good and faithful servants. To trust him; not to be afraid of him.  To accept that he will not be angry when we get things wrong as long as we have been serving him to the best of our abilities.

When I was aged around 5 or 6, I had to learn a recitation for a Sunday School anniversary. It’s one of the few bits of poetry I have ever memorised:

A simpleton went into a bank and said with the greatest of ease

“I’d like to draw out fifty pounds in ten shilling notes if you please”

The cashier replied “Ah well, well, well. You must pardon me sir if I grin.

You cannot take anything out, if you haven’t put anything in”

The moral is easy to see. You’ve seen it already no doubt

If you put little into each day, I’m afraid you won’t get a lot out!

It’s hardly Wordsworth or Dylan Thomas! Nevertheless, that piece of doggerel is the perfect illustration for the point I’m making. Not to sit back. Not to be afraid. To take the investment Jesus makes in us and give him the return he desires - Our souls, our lives, our all.

 

Peace and reconciliation

 

Reflection 8^th November 2020 Remembrance Sunday

 

When we were on holiday at Wareham in October, we decided to have a wander around the town. We ended up at the parish church and looking over the low wall to the cemetery, we realised there was quite a large Commonwealth War Graves section. We were intrigued and went to have a look.

Many of the graves were from the late First World War and included a large number of Australians and members of the Tank Corps. Given that even to this day the Tank Corps is based at nearby Bovington, this wasn’t too surprising. But the Australians? We found a sign with all the graves plotted out and it told us there had been a military hospital just outside the town and this explained many of the deaths – including a significant number who died in 1919 of Spanish flu.

But reading the sign we realised that there were graves from the Second World War too. One poignantly “To an unknown British sailor” whose body had been found on the coast close by. But for me two graves said so much. 

Side by side they were for RAF Sergeant Pilot George Nicol killed on 15^th September 1942 aged 22 and German aircrew Feldwebel (Sergeant) Horst Huffsky killed on 24^th April 1944 aged 23.

In life these two young men were enemies, but in death they are laid side by side. They were similar ages. They were someone’s sons, they might have been a brother, they might have been a husband or a father.

I’ve no idea whether Sergeant Nicol or Sergeant Huffsky have descendants still living. I don’t know whether they are remembered by anyone alive now. Though at least today we are calling to mind their names. I am purposely using their names for us to focus our thoughts on as we Remember those who have died in war, whether members of armed forces or civilians.

I know I’ve quoted a saying by Roy T Bennett on several occasions, “The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” It is a quote that can be used in many contexts but nowhere is it more appropriate than on Remembrance Sunday.

For me in our acts of Remembrance, we should be seeking to learn from the mistakes of the past so that we don’t repeat them.

This year marked 75^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Mr Nicol and Mr Huffsky (and millions of other people) did not survive to see the end of that conflict. Would they be alive today had they survived? Who knows? They both would have been very elderly men – just slightly younger than Captain Tom who inspired us all earlier this year with his sponsored walk to mark his 100^th birthday and raise money for NHS.

I must admit that I was slightly relieved that the VE Day and VJ Day commemorations were much lower key than they might have been due to Covid19. That’s not because I do not respect those (such as Captain Tom) who played their part in the Second World War. I do. But because it seems to me there are many in this country who seem determined to think of that period in our history as a time of nostalgia. Some, often those too young to have known the war, think of it as a time when everyone got misty eyed at the sight and sound of Spitfires and we all gathered round the radio to sing “We’ll meet again”. I suspect it wasn’t like that at all.

For me what VE & VJ day should be about is not so much the ending of war, but of the outbreak of peace. When age old enemies have found ways of turning swords in to plough shares. Many women and men of the generation who fought in, or lived through, the Second World War found ways of building bridges. Found ways of putting aside their differences. Found ways of loving their enemies.

This was courageous, for loving our enemies is the hardest thing to do. You may recall that in a Reflection on 3rd September I mentioned a story of Corrie Ten Boom coming to love her enemy; a man who had been a prison guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp were Miss Ten Boom had been a prisoner. I won’t retell the story here, but it is a perfect illustration of the way we as Christians are to be at the forefront of forgiveness and demonstrating love. 

https://notanormalvicar.blogspot.com/2020/09/forgivness-and-reconciliation.html

Going back to Sergeants Nicol and Huffsky for a moment. Through the internet I have found out a small amount about both men. Sergeant Nicol came from just outside Wareham and was killed when his plane crashed during a training flight in Yorkshire. Sergeant Huffsky’s plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire near Wareham. He came from Dresden.

Since the Second World War the bombing of two cities - Coventry and Dresden – has come to symbolise the horrific nature of the bombing campaigns. This is not the place to go over those arguments. But since the war Coventry and Dresden together have promoted peace and reconciliation.  The cities have been twinned since 1959 and when the decision was made to rebuild Dresden’s Frauenkirche cathedral in 2005 (it had lain in ruins during the days of East Germany) the reconciliation team at Coventry Cathedral were closely involved.

Coventry Cathedral is a powerful example of forgiveness and love for our enemies. When the cathedral was destroyed by German bombs on 14/15 November 1940, the Provost, Richard Howard, had the words “Father forgive” chiselled into the ruins of the sanctuary wall. Above these words, on the altar, stands the original Coventry Cross of Nails. In the smoking ruins of the cathedral after the destruction, some medieval carpenter’s nails were salvaged from the beams of the vaulted ceiling. Three of these nails were later bound together in the shape of a cross. Thus, remnants of the destruction were turned into a new sign of Christian hope, showing that the wounds of war were healing.

Since then steps of reconciliation have been taken in various ways around the world in the spirit of the Cross of Nails. More than 200 Crosses of Nails have found a home in places where the people beneath these crosses have chosen to lay aside old differences and live in a spirit of reconciliation.

 

Peace and reconciliation, love of our enemies seems a fitting tribute to Sergeants Nicol and Huffsky. Two men united in death.

 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.